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Well, it’s been a while since the aftermath was after a win, and not aftermath of a disaster. More to write, but in a good way.

The Cardinals get their first-ever win against the Broncos (0-7-1 in eight previous all-time meetings) and do it in style, ramping up to their greatest margin of victory since the 1993 squad beat up on the Redskins, 36-6, Oct. 17 at Sun Devil Stadium (Pfft, Cards kicker Greg Davis only had 10 points that day. Slacker).

Speaking of story-of-the-day Jay Feely, I wrote in this space last week his Pro Bowl-type year was going to be hurt by the Cards’ record and his lack of opportunities. Then he boots five field goals and he runs in a touchdown that I’d expect will get lots and lots of replays on highlight shows. Maybe he’ll get the boost he deserves.

— In fact, if he had made a 49-yarder that turned out to be his second miss of the season, he’d have six field goals today and would have set the NFL record for points in a game for a kicker. As it was, Feely had 25, one shy of Rob Bironas’ big 2007 game of eight field goals and two extra points. Hope you had Feely as your fantasy kicker.

— Whisenhunt, by the way, took the blame for Feely’s miss. The Cards weren’t going to try a 49-yarder, choosing to play the field position game. The Cards were called for a delay, the Broncos decided to decline the extra five yards, and suddenly, Whiz changed his mind. Although he hadn’t warned Feely he might.

“I, as a knucklehead, didn’t give Jay the heads-up. So I kind of iced my own kicker on that one,” Whisenhunt admitted.

Feely blamed himself, and also admitted he’d probably think more about the one he missed rather than the five he made.

— Tim Hightower benefitted because of Beanie Wells’ gastrointestinal distress, which is why Beanie disappeared from Sunday’s game. Hightower fumbled – again – and was benched for LaRod Stephens-Howling for a series. Then the Hyphen was battered around enough on five straight touches (plus another negated on a penalty) that Hightower had to go back in.

“How I evaluate pros is how they respond,” Whisenhunt said. “That was a poor situation to have a fumble in. We took him out for a couple plays, that’s never easy. When he got back in, he responded. One of the things that’s most rewarding about this job is when you see a player respond the way Tim did.”

— On Skelton’s nine-yard scramble where he took on the Denver DB, Hightower crushed Broncos safety David Bruton in pass protection. Drove him right to the ground on the block like he was in MMA or something.

— If the defense could have only played like this all season. It made play after play Sunday. Safety Kerry Rhodes continues to be a playmaker — the guy is always around the ball — and that was one of Adrian Wilson’s better games this season.

— I mean, not only have we seen it over and over around the NFL, you watched your own teammate, Steve Breaston, strip a Ram from behind on a sure touchdown. Washington should have had his perfect rookie moment on the day he got back into the starting lineup. Instead, ugh (although a win, and Darnell Dockett, made it not so bad).

— Speaking of ugh-ly, center Lyle Sendlein’s back-to-back snaps at the end of the first half. Neither made it anywhere. Turns out Sendlein’s right thumb was shredded and he was bleeding so much – along with a bad thumb – that he couldn’t grip the ball. Sendlein sounded embarrassed afterward.

“I don’t know how it did it,” Sendlein said. “I just cut it, and I should’ve come out because I couldn’t grip the ball or feel the ball. It was a selfish mistake. … I don’t know, couldn’t even feel it, so … I shouldn’t even have been in there.”

— Tackle Jeremy Bridges has now started 10 games – regular- and post-season — for the Cards since returning to the team at the beginning of 2009. In those 10 starts, the Cardinals have rushed for at least 100 yards in eight of those games.

— The Cardinals set the franchise record for most return TDs in a season with nine. They broke the NFL record for most fumbles returned for scores: Six, thanks to Dockett jumping on Washington’s mistake.

— Finally, thank goodness Larry Fitzgerald’s first catch was negated. That would’ve been a lousy way for him to set the record. But, like everything else Sunday, the Fitz story turned out OK. For one week, that was nice.

in a dismal year, i’m surprised (and glad) at some of the records we’re breaking… or coming close to… i noticed on my ESPN fantasy football chart that the Cards have had three 20+ pt efforts defensively (New Orleans and Minnesota being the other two), which is one game more than any other defense in the league. If this unit can gel and trust each other more (their words not mine), I don’t think it would be hard to imagine the Cards as a top 5 defense.

Darren- is there any word on Anderson’s condition? Also, was there any mention of the tripping incident in the NYJ/MIA game?

It was a really nice win! Feely and Rhodes are 2 great additions and bright spots this year! Skelton handled himself very well for his first start! Nice to see a QB that can also block a LB straight on and run when he has too but the O line did a great job today! The Defense showed how potent they can be!
GO CARDS!

Last week I promised I wouldn’t rip the Card players or coaching staff again this year and I will live up to that promise, although this week it isn’t too tough to do. I thought the final score was a typo when I brought the ESPN website up. What a fantastic day for Mr. Feely. I watched the replay of his TD run several times and it has to rank with Hyphen’s returns as one of the highlights of a very dismal season. After watching the Rams-Saints game (if I didn’t mention it before, I am currently a resident of St. Louis where unfortunately I have to watch the Rams games most of the time instead of Cards games) I couldn’t help but think how quickly teams rise and fall in the NFL. Speaking of which, if the draft were held today, who would/should the Cards draft? Anyway…big congrats to the Big Red for finally blowing a team out of the stadium and a huge thanks to Mr. Urban for always putting up great comments on your blog site.

I thought Skelton did a great job for his first start. If his receivers wouldn’t have dropped about 8 balls his stats would have looked alot better. I loved both the block he put on the linebacker on the end around and when he lowered his shoulders and ran over the CB on his run. He moved well in the pocket and got rid of the ball instead of taking sacks or throwing int’s. It was also really nice to see the players smiling and having fun. I can’t wait to see how Skelton does the rest of the season

Finally a win! And a strong win at that! Feely was incredible out there. Definitely Pro Bowl material. Hightower had more fumble issues but overall did well besides that.

I thought Skelton did very well. In fact, many of the incompletions were faulted to the receiver and not Skelton himself. So while his stats were unimpressive, it’s not all his fault. It seems our receivers just aren’t used to have the ball thrown to them properly.

Also, I was impressed with how smart Skelton was. He threw it away when he needed to. Moved out of the pocket when he needed to. Didn’t throw any interceptions. Even ran the ball for a first down. He did a lot of the right things even if his completion stats suffered for it. I’d love to see him start next game.

No lie, I was going to start J. Feely at kicker on my fantasy team b/c Darren was hyping him up this week. I wish I had listened to you more Darren. I’m happy for all the players!
Feely scored 25 fantasy points
Beanie = 16 yards for 1.6 points

It sounds like a great game all the way around. Being up in the Pacific Northwest, I hardly get to see the Cards play. Could you tell me how Skelton’s numbers and day was? Do you think it was good enough to have him start again?

Not bad Cards, nothing flashy but they got it done, now if they can just do that next week in Carolina. And another thing we should really either keep skelton or get a veteran, we have so many other key needs that need to be addressed this offseason.

Great play in a phases of the game..Feely was awesome especially his running skills! Good job! Skelton I loved the fact you stayed so calm in the pocket while the defense was trying to colapse it. You knew how to scramble and even when you did you pushed back with that big hit on DB. I also liked that you had no fear when throwing in the direction of Champ Bailey a 9 time pro-bowler. He played very professionally for a rookie…I hope to see more of this from the D and more of Mr. Skelton in the future!

Stop benching Hightower it is childish. NFL running backs fumble, receivers drop passes, quarterbacks throw interceptions. Good coaches put their running backs right back in there, they don’t punish the whole team be removing one of their best threats.

Don’t just run the ball in the 4th quarter with a big lead, sometimes the offence has to exert its will and not just take what the defense gives them. Tim and Beanie should be getting 12-15 carries a game each, not 12-15 between them. You have a running game use it.

The most impressive thing about Skelton was he put the ball where the receivers could make plays, without an interception. Unfortunately the receivers didn’t make plays early.

Would somebody please tell DRC the NFL is not a 2 hand touch league, he tackles like a girl.

I know it was Denver and they are dysfunctional right now, but so was San Francisco, and so were the Cardinals for that matter.

Start showing some confidence in your young players; it won’t take them so long to become starters.

You have proven to be a slow learner. Time will tell how well you learn.

Kudos to Roberts on the punt returns, he looked like a threat.

Kudos to Jay Feely, he is a player.

Kudos to you for playing the rookies, why draft them and not play them.

Kudos on the fake field goal call; not just because he scored. He could have gotten the first down and not scored.

Darren,
Winning is better than losing even where better draft choices are involved.
This Denver game fooled me completely- after getting rid of an unpopular head coach, I thought Denver would continue mastery over Cards.
The amazing part of the game to me wasn’t Feely as much as it was Skelton. Here’s a kid that the coaches were not convinced that he was at all ready and he goes out and throws 40 passes an has 0 intercepts- and most of those passes were made when the game was 16 points (2 scores) or less.
On another subject -watched the Eagles game last night. See where Jorrick Calvin is returning kicks with the Eagles and they like him very much (although he made a bone-head play). While I realize Calvin may have been cut by Cards-fact remains that Calvin sticks with possibly the best team in football while Charles Scott is long gone. These type of personnel moves can’t continue to happen..

Although Tim Hightower fumbled – AGAIN – did you see him in pass protection? He, alone, saved at least three sacks!!! If Hightower could only solve the pesky fumbling issue he would separate himself as the #1 back ahead of Beanie.

Darren – What do you think the chances of Hightower “hiring” Tiki Barber in the offseason to help him with his fumbling problem?

The Cardinals traded him because he was not going to make the team. They took a flier on the fullback because otherwise, they knew they’d get nothing. The Cards had a KO return man. The Eagles didn’t. It worked out but killing them for that isn’t worth it.

Honestly, I don’t think it’s something that needs hours of help. I think it just needs to be a priority. Who knows? Maybe Hightower is just one of those guys who fumbles. They exist, just WRs who drop the ball too much or guys who get hurt all the time.

Loved the way Whiz went after that official (same one who blew the Doucet catch) on the PI against Adams, I believe. Don’t think I’ve ever seen him so animated. I thought for a minute he was actually going to swat the guy upside the head with that clip board.

Darren: Granted, Denver was beyond awful but to see the D take advantage of it was refreshing. That is what good teams do. From what I saw there could be a huge upside to Skelton. Give him the rest of the season to continue to develope and who knows, you may have found a QB. One thing for sure, we don’t need a kicker. What a great day for Feely. Defense flying around, Hightower pounding the rock, Skelton with no turnovers, all in all a good day.

The injuries to DA and Hall turned out to be blessings in disguise. Skelton’s performance was as good or better than anything the other two have produced. It was done with little in the way of practice. He has, it appears to me, tremendous upside. Whiz even said afterwards that he’s not yet the finished product. We now have three more games for him to show that he can be at least by next season, a competent NFL backup. This will enable us through draft, free agency or trade to solidify the QB situation. This year the QB play was like a cancer which had a demoralizing effect on players, fans and coaches. God forbid it ever happens again.

Hey Darren,
I was really impressed, as I’m sure many of us were, by Jay Feely’s performance this year. I realized he had an incredible scoring streak going. Starting with the extra point in KC on Fitz’s touchdown, then the only 6 points in the next game, then the only 6 points again in the following game, and the first 22 in the Denver game. By my count that’s 35 straight points without interuption by one Player!!! Pretty impressive! Sorry we had to lean on the little guy so hard but man… he truly is a football player. THANK YOU JAY ! ! ! ! !

Hey Darren–Nice win by the Card’s to stop the bleeding. The Broncos looked horrible yesterday-like they had no coach. Great game by Feely- he gets the game ball. Skelton looked poised and had no turnovers-although I thought we should have ran the ball more especially in the 3rd Qtr–up 19-3 around mid-field–3 straight throws??? Nice job by Hightower to pick it up after the fumble.The flaunting by Washington was troublesome–lucky to get away with it. Why is the flaunting and pre-empted celebrations running crazy in the NFL?? It is kind of a turn off. Guys need to be fundamental and act like pro’s. They should watch Barry Sanders and Walter Payton?? Those guys performed with class and humility.

Well Darren, at least the guy (or guys) who kept posting that the Cards wouldn’t win another game this year have to eat their words.

As others have mentioned, Skelton’s #’s weren’t great, but we did drop some passes. Most important # is 0 INT’s, especially considering we had control of the game.

The defense was solid after the first drive. We did get some truly gift turnovers. Adams’ INT was a nice play, but the one to Rhodes was just a ridiculous overthrow. And there was that guy who fumbled the ball straight up in the air without even getting hit. We were fortunate, like in the Saints game, that the ball was bouncing our way. Although this game, Denver was so bad that we would’ve won even without a couple of those lucky plays.

As much as I was getting tired of DA like many others, I feel a little sorry for him that Skelton got to take over in a game where we are the beneficiary of 6 turnovers, and where we’re playing the 2nd worst rush defense in football. Even with a QB rating worse than DA’s average, Skelton gets an easy victory, and now most likely gets another start in a game the Cards should win. I’d like to think even DA wins that one.

I liked that Whiz called for the fake FG (of course, that’s a play that if it fails, you get crucified for). I also liked the double reverse/Breaston pass even though it didn’t work. Let’s keep mixing it up.

I keep reading that the Cards are mathematically still in the race. I couldn’t figure out how this was possible since I figured one of SEA and STL has to win their final game and each would win a tiebreaker vs. AZ (SEA for head-to-head, STL for division record). But then I realized they could TIE. So AZ needs STL and SEA to lose their other 2 games and tie in the final game, while SF wins only the STL game, and AZ wins out. Probably need Stephen Hawking to calculate odds on that one… Sadly, though, the fact that the Cards are still in it even at 4-9 just shows how much one more win could have meant in those games that got away (Minnesota with the Favre comeback, TB with the Freeman long pass after we took the lead in a game that Max started with two pick 6’s). All 3 division opp’s should lose next week (SD, ATL and KC are the opponents for SF, SEA and STL respectively). If we had 5 wins now instead of 4, there’d be a good chance that a win vs. Carolina would move us into a 1st place tie next week. That’s crazy.

To put additional icing on Feely’s cake – how about his decleating of the Bronco kick returner in the 4Q? (Mr. Everything).

Skelton will be an intriguing topic of discussion over the next few days. Here’s a guy who completes well under 50% of his passes and ends up with a QB rating of something like 52.8 and yet turns out to be precisely what we needed.

Why? It’s hard to put into words, but the best way I can put it is: “When #19 would fade back to pass and face considerable pressure, my first instinct was to wait for him to absorb the inevitable sack. But it never happened. He’d either deliver the ball to a safety valve, roll out to where he could throw it away or (my favorite) stand in the pocket and throw it away into the ground (or far beyond) a covered receiver in order to avoid intentional-grounding.]

In short – He has command. He can be trusted.

You could not say this about Anderson, Hall or (for that matter Leinart).

I just hope Skelton remains healthy, stays on an even keel and continues to make directional progress. If he can, Cardinal fans should be excited.

If Brandon Keith was not hurt he would still be playing which makes no sense. Our “Vet” receivers need to catch the ball, Skelton would’ve blown any DA or Hall performance if his WR caught the ball in the first Quarter. I love how people say “our defense needs to play like that all the time,” no, our offense just needs first downs to get these guys some rest. Skelton didn’t even need to throw a td, his management of the game was excellent.

For a QB would was not ready #19 looked pretty good, I don’t think DA or MH could of done what he did as far as accuracy and movement out of the pocket. If that was the dumbed down version of play calling it was the best all season. As scary as it is it was great to see Skelton getting physical. It looked like that lineman was surprised that he blocked him.

Darren, do you think that #19 will start the rest of the season? Hopefully he does so we can see what we have. If we can’t get Luck or Mallett we probably shouldn’t draft a QB as Newton and Locker are too risky. We could fill a lot of needs by trading that pick for other picks or players. I have a feeling that #26 won’t be a cardinal next year and he may be traded.

It was nice to see #90 and #24 have a great game and #58 and #50 are going to be good. Porter was still MIA but it’s probably time for him to retire.

Hopefully #19 is the man for the rest of the season as it is pointless to put DA in as he most likely will be gone next year.

I wish this would’ve made it on tv up here instead the pats and bears. After reading Skelton’s stats, it didn’t seem like he did anything special, but everyone is praising him. I wonder if that’d be the same had we’ve lost. :) I hope he does well the rest of the year. It’s honestly a shame that it took this long to break out the all red uniforms. Those are my favorite. Never really cared much for the black everyone’s so hopped up about. Great win overall. When our D plays together, they really shine. Feely and Rhodes are both good pickups. And I think Skelton will be at least a decent “game manager” qb we can trust. I can’t wait for next season. We’ll be back in the hunt for sure.

On another note, our winning formula this year seems to be to throw in some poor rookie with little to no practice with the first team and bam! We get a blow-out victory, :D

Hopefully someone will point out the fact that skelton looked about a billion times better than hall or anderson in the pocket, despite “not being close to ready”. He didn’t take any sacks and I remember at least three or four instinces where da or hall would have just dropped and taken a sack. His pocket presence was great, if he was about to get hit he would throw it away not to a defender (unlike da) or just scamble. I think whiz owes us all an apology for not starting him after hall sucked it up. Or maybe this was the plan all a long and he just needed those extra few weeks to get “not ready”.

Darren said: – If the defense could have only played like this all season. It made play after play Sunday. Safety Kerry Rhodes continues to be a playmaker — the guy is always around the ball — and that was one of Adrian Wilson’s better games this season.

Yes, it would have been nice to see the defense play that good all year, but the Broncos are absolutely horrendous. Nevertheless, Rhodes has been far and away the best pickup this offseason (and Paris Lenon is second). And the Broncos scored more than six points — even if the defense played this good against everybody, the record would be the same. We still had terrible quarterback play.

Darren said: – Tackle Jeremy Bridges has now started 10 games – regular- and post-season — for the Cards since returning to the team at the beginning of 2009. In those 10 starts, the Cardinals have rushed for at least 100 yards in eight of those games.

This is why Bridges should be starting. All the guy does is get waived, picked up at the last minute, and then ultimately start and play well. He did it here, then in Carolina, then back here again. Exactly why I really like him as a player. Also plays with a nastiness I really like. If the pro shop sold JB jerseys, I’d pick one up!

Am I the only one that worries that Andre Roberts is going to fumble every time he touches the ball – especially on punt returns. He seems to hold the ball very loose and away from his body. I keep expecting the coaches to talk to him about it, but he keeps doing it.

Thanks as always for the updates. I really liked the article about Skelton, it echoed the way I felt watching the game – he just seemed steady and played hard without getting too excited or too rattled. Not the greatest outing stats wise, and I can see he still has a lot to learn, but he looks like he really does have a great deal of upside. I’m once again excited to see what happens next week, and even more excited for next year.

That said, my expectation are realistic, and I hope everyone else is the same way. If he plays next week, it could be a clunker, but I could still be happy – all I want to see from him is to minimize costly mistakes and continue to make progress in his reads.

I have had feely and the cardinals defense on my fantasy team for the whole year and yesterday was the first playoff game and the lottery ticket finally paid off!!!!

I can see the resemblance between feely and hall after seeing the press conference. it was really great to see a cardinal enjoying a great day and not having to apologize for losing while being outstanding personally.

Since we aren’t going to get Andrew Luck anyway we might as well keep skelton in instead of the guy who gives us the best chance to win (that is sarcasm in its most bitter tone)

skelton is everything i was hoping for. I am not anointing him i am just saying so far no interceptions, great decision making, a brutal block, loose and ready to play even in bad situations.

Did anyone see the fitzgerald catch where champs arm was pushing at the ball and fitz somehow switched hands around the defender and pulled the ball out. it was at about the 10:30 mark of the third quarter .i watched it in slow motion and for the life of me i cant figure out how he ended up with the ball like that. champ baily looks around after the play like what the hell.

This is for Darrell who called DA a dumbass Darrell DA is a human being and I’m sure he does his best.Maybe you would like to say it to his face.He is a big guy,you may not want to.Plus the Cardinals lose and win together,so maybe you are calling all the Cardinals dumbasses.Would you want to call all of them dumbasses? Some FAN you are.

First of all gary I don’t. Derek at all. Nevr did. I’m a hard nose fan. And if dumb ass plays like a dumbass and act likes one Then he must be one you must have not been watching all thr. Games. I’ve. I watched evey game 3x over I knw what I’m talkin about he got out played by both of our rookies. And matt. And he was basically handed the startin job and nevr did anything with it …. I watched a pre season game. Of dumbass he stiil does the stuff he does. Go watch for urslef. Ull see. He should never. Take snap in the nfl

Finally we gave the Rookie the chance.. his numbers weren’t great but that wasn’t his fault.. the best part was not going 123 out .. 123 out.. etc… Wiz needs to stop with the predictable play run.. pass pass… run run pass.. it was nice to see some trickery but at the same pt its ok to throw on the 1st play really.. and up the middle obviously every run doesn’t work.. we have a whole field.. Im impressed that we actually saw our guys gettng a rest on defense and showing what they are capable of when not worn out.. and of coarse nice to see a quarterback that doesn’t fall into a body ball when he thinks he is going to get hit… way to cardinals…. and next year look out we are are going to spring back into the league healthy and strong…

A Win!! Skelton managed the game well and didn’t turn it over but you know, max managed his first game well and only turned it over with one interception, just sayin!! Timmy Hightower is a beast, many card fans wanna bury him but dude is a beast 18 carries for 148 yards and 2 tds, breaking that big 35 yard td run and numerous other big runs. I bet beanie wants some of that bad broncos defense. Larry Fitz broke the franchise record for catches as a cardinal so congratulations on that and had a good game with 6 catches and 72 yards and would have had an bigger game if not for some amazing plays by the great champ bailey, who hopefully will be a cardinal next season! Offensive Line had their most complete game run blocking and pass protecting. Even Levi shut his guy down. Faneca made some huge blocks along with sendlein, lutui, and bridges. Defense played an outstanding game and is coming on a little bit the last two weeks. Dockett, calais, and that d-line playing much better against the run and getting lots of pressure against orton along with the LBs. Daryl washington getting a big pick but getting it knocked out and dockett falling on it and taking the td. DRC shut down a pro bowler in lloyd and is that good if you give him a chance to be, he’s had a bit of a down year by his standards but is still cold. Kerry Rhodes, can somebody put this man in the pro bowl at fs because last time I checked the former card antrel rolle was leading it and he wasn’t having a better year at that point and I don’t have to see every giants game to know that, Down here in dallas, I see some new york giants games and he has made some plays, but not more than kerry. A-Wil had a game! He intimidated the broncos, that’s why he’s one of the best and most complete safeties in the game, one play he power bombed knowshon moreno and I was like ”he’s back”!! Jay Feely is another cardinal that has to make the pro bowl, 5 fgs and a fake fg run for a td, crazy athlete he is, Thanks Jets because nick folk has been inconsistent at best. We got carolina next and whiz said it will be skelton’s 2nd start, hopefully skelton’s 2nd start will be a little better than max’s 2nd start(at seattle)!!!

Very well done Cards…Very impressed with John Skelton-he did everything I was hoping he would do in his first start (except get the ball in the endzone-which I’m not sure how much of that was on him specifically)..

a little surprised at the lukewarm analysis of his play..uh, did people forget he had virtually no reps this season, is from a little school called Fordham, coaches went on and on about him not being ready, and oh…HE’S A ROOKIE?? Compared to Hall he is already a Pro Bowler..I have to say he reminded me a bit of Big Ben with his agility, toughness, poise, and arm..I’m sick of people today saying “was he spectacular? No, but blah blah” “is he Kurt Warner, No but blah blah”…those aren’t even questions that any serious, intelligent fan would ask themselves anyway. How many balls were dropped by our “playmakers?” Again, he’s a rookie and already AT LEAST as good as DA (and he’s a former pro bowler). Let’s hope he continues to progress.

Are you talking about that low catch where Fitzgerald somehow caught and pulled the ball out with one hand? I couldn’t believe it when I saw it. I tried looking it up on youtube but the person who posted highlights skipped that part of the quarter. I was kind of disappointed because I really wanted to see it again to see how in the world he did that. Do you happen to know where I can see it again online?